6.29.2012

An award!

Hi, everyone ... it's me, Tucker! 

And I'm blown away!  (Get it?)


Why, you ask?  Well, it's because Rama and her Mama of Raising Rama gave us an award!  This one right here!


We appreciate it very much ... especially since Mom hasn't been feeling super inspired, let alone inspiring, lately.  Which is the main reason why we've been neglecting our blog recently.  (It's also why we are recycling this old photo, but hey, why point fingers ... er paws.)  It's certainly not my fault ... I am ALWAYS inspired.  (And inspiring, too, I think.)  I have lots of good ideas about the blog, but somehow Mom always seems to be too busy to help me with them.  

But I digress.

Anyway ... the rules about accepting the award are as follows:

1) Thank the person who nominated you and link back to them in your post.  

Rama (and Mama) we sincerely thank you for this award.  We don't feel deserving of it, but we are very appreciative nonetheless.  (Our link back to your blog is above.) 

2) Share 7 things about yourself.  

I'm going to share some about myself (Tucker) and also the other pups, kitties, and peeps in my family.)

I, Tucker, am a a Canine Good Citizen.  I passed a test, and have a certificate stating it.  I also have a bandana that says Canine Good Citizen on it, but I hardly ever wear it.  

 Olivia turned eight years old in April.  But I don't think she looks a day over four.  


Tanner sometimes drools when Mom scratches him under his chin.

One of Phoebe's favorite things to do is roll in the grass! 

Finn HATES to wear a collar!  So right now he's not wearing one.  


Mom (not pictured) is an animal lover from way back.  Her first dog was a cocker spaniel mix named Sassy.


3) Nominate other bloggers we admire: 

This one is tough ... we have so many blogs we love and admire, that entertain and inspire us, that choosing was REALLY hard.  But here they are: 

Rescued Insanity  - Kristine is the human and Shiva is her "tornado on a leash" rescue pup.  Kristine was literally the first person to ever comment on one of my posts when I first started blogging, and once I started reading HER blog, I was hooked.   If you've ever struggled to overcome problem behavior in your dog, and you want to be entertained as well as inspired, you need to go visit Kristine and Shiva! 

Cult of Otis - Otis, Brother Henry, Mama Cat, and the entire cast of characters over at Cult of Otis never cease to entertain us.  And we love how Otis always closes his blog entries with "So Sayeth Otis."  If you're a cat who wants to rule the world, or at least your own little corner of it, you're sure to find inspiration here!

Love And A Leash - We first discovered this wonderful blog through yet another wonderful blog, Two Pitties In The City.  They were spreading the word about a LAAL foster pup who needed some help from the blogosphere.  Now that one of those fosters has become a permanent resident, the parade of fosters formerly to be found at Love and a Leash is no more, at least not for right now.  But seeing how happy Numero Uno pup, Chick, is with his  formerly foster but now forever brother The Doodlebug, it is hard to be anything but happy about this turn of events.  These boys are so cute together!  

Two Pitties In The City - One of our all-time favorite blogs, it features A & E and their pitties Miss M. and Mr. B.  Whether it's founding and growing a pack walking group in Chicago, or just finding and sharing ways to successfully live in the city with pit bulls or pit type dogs, we find this blog very inspiring! 

Shutter Hounds and Greyhound Gardens- It's a little known fact that I'm kind of a sight hound freak ... and I just adore greyhounds.  In fact, I volunteered for a greyhound rescue group some years back, and almost adopted one, but the boy I had my eye on wasn't small animal safe.  I still think that maybe one day I'll have a greyhound, and meanwhile I never miss an opportunity to lay my eyes on one, even if only in photos.  The reason I grouped these two blogs together is that they are both devoted primarily to greyhounds / sighthounds, and the photos these bloggers put up just blow me away sometimes with how stunning they are.  In fact, you could say that they inspire me to take better photos myself.  Or at the very least they inspire me to WANT to.  

Romping and Rolling in the Rockies - I think most of you are probably familiar with this blog, as you should be, especially if you love looking at amazing photographs of beautiful dogs and seldom seen wildlife.  As, obviously, I do.  Romping and Rolling in the Rockies is the blog of KB, which chronicles her adventures with her two amazing pups, K and R.  K got a very serious diagnosis not long ago, but is, right now, doing very well, for which we are so thankful.  KB and K's commitment to living well and fully in the moment is, to say the  least, inspiring.  

Urban Hounds - The authoress of this blog is "a dog obsessed, semi-reluctant urbanite" who shares her home with five dogs, three cats, and her husband, and whose goal is to "give my city dogs the best life possible and to ensure they take advantage of everything an urban area has to offer canines."  Every now and again, you read a blog by a complete stranger and think "I could be friends with this person in real life."  And so I often think when I read the blog of Urban Hounds.  Her philosophies on feeding, vet care, and other things usually seem to dovetail closely with my own, and I often find myself nodding in agreement as I read her posts.  She also has a new Pug puppy named Weasley, and since I'm a big Harry Potter (and Pug) fan, I have to love that!  

Success Just Clicks - Tena is a Pittsburgh, PA-based positive reinforcement dog trainer and her blog is chock-full of useful and relevant information on a variety of doggy subjects, but obviously focuses mostly on training.  Tena is big on being an advocate for your dog in all situations, and on building a stronger bond through positive reinforcement / clicker training.  Need inspiration?  Just click ... on successjustclicks.com! 

I would encourage anyone not familiar with any of these wonderful blogs to visit them today ... and prepare to be inspired!  And thanks again to Rama & her Mama for gifting us with this award! 






6.27.2012

Dealing with the paw-parazzi ...

Kitties!  (And pups!)  My mom clearly has no concept of boundaries.  The other day I was enjoying a nice afternoon nap when along came Mom with the flashy box.  Again!

Allow me to illustrate ...

There I was ... snoozing peacefully ...



When I was so rudely interrupted by Mom.  So I tried to put one paw over my eye to block out the intrusion.


But that didn't work so I finally just rolled over in very UN-cat-like submission in hopes she would take pity on me and leave me to nap in peace.



But she didn't.  Ah, well ... I guess it's just the price of being devastatingly handsome.

Happy Wednesday, everyone! 

6.26.2012

Traitorous behavior

Hi, everyone ... it's me, Tucker. 

You have probably noticed that we've been gone a lot lately ... but, as usual, it's not me, Phoebe, or the cats that are responsible ... it's Mom.  And this time she can't even use work as an excuse because she took a whole WEEK off last week to go out of town.  She SAID she was visiting family, but she came back smelling very suspiciously of strange dogs.  Then today I found THESE pictures on her computer.  



I asked her about them and she said that these dogs ARE family.  (Cassie, the Yorkie, is our Great Aunt K's dog and Carly, the Lab, is our cousin K and his wife C's dog.  They live in Arkansas.) Here's the thing ... I'm sure they are nice dogs and that if I met them I would like them.  But if there were going to be dogs at this family gathering, then why couldn't Phoebe and I go too? 

I guess I'm going to forgive Mom.  But I don't think Olivia will ... at least not anytime soon.  If you doubt me, just take a look at the photo of her Mom took when she got home on Sunday.  Does she look happy to you?  


Yeah, didn't think so.

Happy Tuesday, everybody! 


6.25.2012

Man-Cat Monday

Hi, everyone ... it's me, Tanner! It's raining and gross today because someone named Debby is passing through, but hopefully she'll be gone soon.  Until she is, I can't go out on the cat porch to stalk lizards.  This is a problem.  But until I can go outside I guess I will stay inside and watch TV.



Have a great day, everyone ... and I hope Debby doesn't come visit you! 

6.15.2012

The issue of pet "ownership"

Hi, everyone ... MP here!  Sorry we've been MIA lately ... lots going on and hopefully we'll be back posting regularly soon (as well as making the rounds of our friends' blogs, which we very much miss). 

Busy as things have been lately, though ... I had something I wanted to share with everyone.  Lots of people, myself included, are uncomfortable with the word "ownership" when it comes to our pets.  They are our family members, our companions, in some cases our surrogate children ... it can vary.  But the point is that as companion animals have become more central to our emotional lives than they used to be in the days when they were largely our working partners (which is just as deep a bond in many cases, though certainly a different kind of relationship), we have become more and more uncomfortable with the word "ownership" in relation to our dogs and cats.  We are their caretakers, their guardians, their parents, whatever.  Everyone's verbiage is a little different, but the emotion behind it is, I think, largely the same.

It never crossed my mind that this mindset could possibly put my pets in danger, but after reading THIS ARTICLE I am absolutely convinced that it might. 

Words are powerful, as we know all too well, and in this case they may be more powerful than we ever imagined. "Owner" is not a word I'm particularly comfortable with as it pertains to my view of myself in relation to my pets, but if calling myself their owner is what I need to do to protect them, then that's what I'll do. 

Assuming you read the article I linked to above, what are your thoughts?  


6.01.2012

And the winner is ...

Hi, everyone ... it's me, Finn!  And I'm here to announce the random winner of my Back in Black 2 comment-a-thon! 

This event is sponsored by Best Friends.


I was very excited that we not only reached, but exceeded, our goal of 100 comments.  Tucker, Olivia, Tanner, Phoebe, and I have gotten together, pooled our toy and treat allowances, and we are really happy to have the opportunity to donate this money to a deserving shelter or rescue group in the name of one of our winning commenters!  

One of Mom's other favorite pictures of me.  She thinks I look very house-pantherish in this one.

And that winner is .... drum roll please ... (wait, bag that - I don't like drums - they sound like thunder, and I REALLY don't like thunder!)  So just IMAGINE that you hear a drum roll (if you like them - and if, like me, you don't, then just imagine whatever you'd like) ....

Ok, let's try this again ... the randomly chosen winner of the May 2012 Comment-A-Thon IS ... Laila and Minchie from Cat-a-holic!

Congratulations to you both, and a huge, very heartfelt THANK YOU to all who commented and all who spread the word and helped us reach our goal of 100 comments!

Laila and Minchie's donation will be going to The Buddy Foundation!  Laila and Minchie, if you will please email my mom at tuckertellsall@gmail.com so that she has your email address, she'll cc you on her email to The Buddy Foundation, letting them know that our donation is made in your name.

I checked, and it looks like The Buddy Foundation has some lovely house panthers available for adoption, as well as some other beautiful cats.  And they have some really cute pups, too, including Korki, a nine year old black Cocker Spaniel/Poodle mix that my mom was going all "squee" over. (She doesn't like cats, though.)

I'd also like all of you to remember my fellow house panther, Bella, who is looking for a new house.  Her current mom has allergies, and they are making her very sick.  Also, Bella is sad because she is not getting the pets and snuggles she really likes.

If anyone knows someone who has a loving home and a comfy lap for Bella and would like to adopt her, they can email my mom and she will put you in touch with Bella's current (very sniffly) mom.

Here's a pic of her.  Isn't she pretty?